Before your students can understand how to correct dangling participles, they first need to understand what a participle does. A participle is a word or phrase that modifies a noun, and it is created by turning a verb into an adjective. It usually includes a word ending in -ing or -ed, such as swimming, running, parked or backed. Introduce your students to the idea that a participle usually works best when it is as close to the word it is modifying as possible. A dangling participle modifies a different word than the intended one. For example, the sentence “Covered in cream cheese, my friends will love this bagel” implies that the speakers friends are covered in cream cheese.
Write out sentences with funny dangling participles on slips of paper and hand one to each student. Examples could include: “Covered in wildflowers, I sat and stared at the beautiful hillside”; “Hiking on the trail, birds struck up a song all around me”; or “After reading the paper, the telephone rang.” Have each student draw a picture illustrating the mistaken impression the dangling participle conveys. Hang the pictures up in the classroom -- leaving them dangling as a reminder for students not to dangle their participles.
Give your students a list containing some correct sentences and some sentences with dangling participles. Have them find the ones with dangling participles. You can turn this into a classroom game by dividing the class into teams and offering a prize to the team that correctly identifies the most dangling participles. After all of the dangling participles have been identified, have your students rewrite the sentences to eliminate the misplaced modifiers.
Divide your class into groups consisting of four to six students each. Give each group a few different words and 10 minutes to write a short play using one of those words as a dangling participle. Good words to use include swimming, dancing, baking, hopping and looking. Have students perform their plays in front of the class so everyone can see the silliness that a misplaced modifier conveys.